Fan Fic / Day of the Barney Trilogy

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Long, long ago, back in the ancient year of 1993, Brian Bull released a short Barney & Friends fanfiction (and we use the term fanfiction very lightly) known as Day of the Barney. To summarize it as simply as possible, Barney, who is being broadcast from the United States Capitol, sends thousands of children into an unstoppable killing spree when he tells them the adults are trying to take him away from them.

Unlike many Barney-themed hatefics, this one was extremely well written, darkly funny, deconstructed the idea of Barney being a lovable kids show host, and is even genuinely creepy. Despite its shortness, it even developed a cult following.

And then part two was released.

Although keeping some of the dark comedy the first part had, part two and three took a much more serious turn. Aside from being much longer and written in a novel format, it also expanded greatly on Barney and Baby Bop's characters, portraying them as demonic creatures who were born at (and caused) the very end of the dinosaur reign, as well as many historic disasters. Yes, really. Part two takes place about six years after the events of part one (known as "The Great Act of Love") in the apocalyptic wasteland that was once Washington D.C. Many adults have already been killed off and Barney rules as a God-like figure over the children. It's there we are introduced to our main characters, Jeremy and Fran Phillips, two thirteen-year-old twins who learn the horrible truth about Barney and his plans for the children and the world.

Author Brian Bull took down his website after receiving a cease and desist letter from the owners of Barney and Friends, but a mirror still exists, although it lacks the original website's illustrations. The mirror contains a fourth story that takes place in the same continuity, Son of Barney, as well as several other Barney-themed stories that don't.

This trilogy provides examples of:

Well, maybe not the whole "Barney is a demonic monster who kills adults and rules over children" plot, which is more like a corny horror film than anything, but in part three where Jeremy's children are kidnapped and turned against him might invoke this trope.

All of the Other Reindeer: Maca'hzar isn't exactly loved by Barney and the other Loved Ones due to the fact that he's Fran's test-tube son. The only reason he was left alive was so he could be used as the Chew Toy.

Artistic License - History: In part 3, it features Adolf Schicklgruber making the decision to change his name to Adolf Hitler after having been befriended and corrupted by Barney. The basis of the "Adolf Hitler could've been Adolf Schicklgruber" meme is that his father was born with the surname Schicklgruber, but successfully changed it to Hitler. Adolf Hitler never bore the surname Schicklgruber at any time in his life.

Please note that the first person noted here will still shown to have some lingering humanity as he died (even dying by the other AH's hands as a result), so he may be a candidate for Redemption Equals Death instead.

Been There, Shaped History: Part 3 reveals that Barney and Baby Bop were alive and present at the extinction of the dinosaurs and are hinted to have caused it. The list of historical events they are shown to have caused is long. Since the extinction of the dinosaurs, they are revealed to have met and corrupted Caligula, caused the spread of the Black Death, saved the life of and met Adolf Hitler, and befriended Anne Frank, only to betray her and her family to the Nazis after learning that she is a Jew.

Bittersweet Ending: Part 2 has Fran and Jeremy defeat Barney or so they think, but a large number of adults and teenagers have been brutally murdered during the Purple Holocaust, which has also basically wrecked social infrastructure. Part 3 has Barney defeated once and for all, but Jeremy's children have been traumatized so badly that they need serious therapy.

Corrupt the Cutie: Barney entices all of his young fans to kill any adult they meet in the Great Act of Love and made Caligula and Hitler into the evil dictators we came to know them as by visiting, befriending, and corrupting them when they were young.

Crapsaccharine World: What the world turns into after the Great Act of Love for the remaining children. Life is great for them as Barney's Special Friends up until they turn thirteen.

Crapsack World: If you are over the age of twelve, the world under the reign of Barney crosses over the border of Crapsaccharine World right into this. The social infrastructure has been destroyed, necessitating surviving teenagers and adults to forage for food and hide from Barney, Baby Bop, and the Loved Ones. Add to that the fact that the adults and children are afraid of each other. The adults and teenagers are afraid of being killed by children and the children have been taught by Barney to fear the Bad Ones, as he calls the teenagers and adults who survived the Great Act of Love. And if you have lived for any period of time as a child during the Purple Holocaust, you now have to hide from Barney, who you had come to love and trust, but now can't because he's out to kill you.

Dangerous Thirteenth Birthday: If you are a kid, things are awesome for you during the Purple Holocaust. You are one of Barney's Special Friends, you don't have to go without food or affection, and when you turn thirteen, he gives you a "Special Gift" that turns out to be mutilaton with a machete if you are a boy and rape followed by impregnation with a Half-Human Hybrid that you die giving birth to if you are a girl.

Dark Comedy: Even when Barney is killing and maiming people, it is still really funny, especially when it is accompanied by an Ironic Nursery Tune. Also, who can't laugh at the idea of Barney being the one responsible for corrupting Caligula and Hitler?

Death by Childbirth: The girls' "Special Gift" that they receive upon turning thirteen. Barney rapes them so that they end up pregnant with Loved Ones, which are then born by clawing their way out of their mothers' bellies.

Dissonant Serenity: This is what makes Barney so creepy. He constantly has that same smile on his face...

Does This Remind You of Anything?: In Part 3, certain young "skeptics" claim that Barney's reign of terror never happened, despite the fact that there are living survivors who can attest to the horrors of it by virtue of having lived through it. To make it more obvious, they call this period the Purple Holocaust.

Earn Your Happy Ending: In the end, Jeremy is severely injured, and his children are traumatized to the point of needing serious therapy, but Barney truly is dead this time.

The End of the World as We Know It: The brutal murder of every adult and teenager Barney and his loyal crew of young fans could get their hands on is said to have taken place "across the country" so presumably, only the United States was affected. For the duration of the Purple Holocaust, there is certainly a Societal Collapse as Barney's Special Friends are left to forage for their own food in the fields of grain tended by the Loved Ones and every surviving teenager and adult presumably either practices subsistence farming or forages for food in abandoned places. If Jeremy and Fran hadn't defeated Barney, it would have most likely resulted in the extinction of the human race due to the adults having to hide from Barney and his followers and the children not reproducing with each other (or so we hope). Eventually, every full-blooded human being would die off, leaving only Barney, Baby Bop, and the Loved Ones.

Faux Affably Evil: Barney. His whole modus operandi is manipulating the children to do what he wants and convincing them that he's the only one who loves them, but it is made clear that his intentions are, through and through, anything but good.

Hate Fic: Lord yes. You'd have to have stopped reading the original story midway through to possibly think that this was in any way a fan fic.

The last line states "let Barney rot in hell".

Heel Realization: Thorton Marshall realizes his beloved Barney may not being a loving as he thought. Jeremy and Fran finding out may count too, although they never actually did anything harmful themselves.

Historical Rap Sheet: Barney was responsible for, among others, the extinction of the dinosaurs, Caligula's depravity, the Black Death, the rise of Hitler and betraying Anne Frank.

Hypocrite: oh dear god Barney, where to start? Spreads messages of peace and love, while butchering 13 year olds en masse with a machete? SERIOUSLY?

With a crushed rib there, a fracture there, here a break, there a break, everywhere a break-break!

Thorton Marshall got run down,

ee-i-ee-i-o!

Thorton Marshall is a mess,

ee-i-ee-i-o!

I doubt he'll be the same again,

ee-i-ee-i-o!

He's lost some blood, his pulse is weak, here a clot,

There a clot, everywhere a clot-clot!

Thorton Marshall is a mess,

ee-i-ee-i-o!"

Medical Rape and Impregnate: Part of the "Special Gift" given to girls who turn thirteen during the Purple Holocaust. They are taken away, raped by Barney, and are impregnated with Loved Ones which they die giving birth to. Fran, however, turns out to have mothered a Loved One through in-vitro fertilization and it was only because Jeremy rescued her that she didn't end up having it in her body at all.

Morton's Fork: Yes, in this story, Barney is unquestionably evil and no one can doubt he is. He not only led multiple children to murder adults, including their own parents, indiscriminately and without mercy, and killed and raped them when they became teenagers, his evildoing is shown to pepper the course of history. He's also corrupted Caligula and Hitler and is responsible for the Black Death and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Wait, the extinction of the dinosaurs was one of the reasons why humans were able to evolve to the point that they did. So if Barney caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, we actually owe our existence as it is to him. He's evil and is a clear threat to the human race, and yet we have him to thank for the human race in its current form.

Released to Elsewhere: During the Purple Holocaust, all children receive a "Special Gift" upon turning thirteen. They are taken to the White House for a birthday party in the Oval Office. Then Baby Bop takes whatever girls are among the thirteen year olds away for their "Special Gift" while the boys stay behind so that Barney can give them theirs. Barney writes the number 13 on their foreheads, tells them to close their eyes and kneel and then he beheads them with a machete. It later turns out that the girls are taken away to be raped by Barney and subsequently die giving birth to the Loved Ones. The other children are told that the thirteen year olds have gone on vacation.

Sealed Evil in a Can: or Sealed Evil in a Crystal, implied to be the final fate of Barney. Although it is entirely possible that the crystal is actually giving Jeremy a glimpse into Barney burning in hell.

Self-Made Orphan: The Great Act of Love consists of Barney encouraging the children to kill off all of the adults. By default, at least some of those who were children at that time are these.

Sugar Apocalypse: The End of the World as We Know It caused by Barney. After all of the adults have been killed or driven into hiding, Barney creates an idyllic existence for his Special Friends where all of their needs are attended to by himself, Baby Bop, and the Loved Ones and they all sing songs and play games like on the original show. Then Jeremy and Fran discover that it is really a Crapsaccharine World, after which Fran shoots Barney and they lead the effort to set things right.

Also a few children have a few moments of this. Going back to the Axe CrazyBarney isn't such a good idea....

They may not have had a choice. Barney seemed to have them brainwashed. Even if they wanted to leave, and I suspect most of them really did, they couldn't because they were under the control of an evil Eldritch Abomination vaguely resembling a prehistoric animal. It does seem, however, that when Barney asks the kids to do something truly awful, the Great Act of Axe Crazy (sorry, I mean Great Act of Love) aside, they can at least partially resist it.

Token Heroic Orc: Maca'hzar is a good and helpful Loved One, partly because he was rejected by the others as Fran's test-tube son.

Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: In the first story, Barney encourages his fans to kill any adult they can. We even directly see Jenny and Robby kill their mother with knives!

The Watcher: Maca'hzar is presented as one, as he affirms that his magic wouldn't work on Barney, so he can only help Jeremy indirectly. However, the trope is subverted: Maca'hzar gives Jeremy the item he needs to defeat Barney, and frees him from his bonds when Barney has him in captivity, making him more active than your average Watcher.

Wife Husbandry: Barney happily takes up responsibility of caring for the children after he entices them to kill all of the adults and then as soon as the girls turn thirteen, he takes them away and then rapes them at least partially for the purposes of impregnating them with Loved Ones.

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